Friday, November 30, 2012

A 13 Second Mating Event

Many visits have been made to a Bald Eagle nest near Fort Myers Beach with an effort to understand the behavior of a pair of Bald Eagles now in my fifth season of study.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The images presented in this article were captured on two days with observations made in the afternoon. Photographs captured on the first day were accidentally deleted before transferring them to the computer. This was a similar malfunction made when I earlier deleted images already in the computer's hard drive. The recovery process was made possible in part by inclement weather on the morning of 20 November 2012 when I met up with Frank Constantin to photograph Florida Scrub-Jays.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Magnificent Frigatebird above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Red-bellied Woodpecker above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

As we opted to wait for the weather to improve, I therefore didn't over-write the deleted images on the memory card. I am, of course, grateful for that. A computer program was downloaded from the internet to recover the deleted images with the first 25 presented here among those initially thought lost. Since I had to pay a fee for the program, I have chosen not to mention the name of the company that makes it. The results were satisfactory while the photographs recovered are available to me as TIFF files. After this event I met up with Frank later in the day to study the eagles for another rewarding opportunity.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Magnificent Frigatebird above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Red-bellied Woodpecker above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Willet above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Osprey above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The American Kestrel above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The American Kestrel above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Common Grackle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The eagle with a band on its right leg was proven to be the female. I had forgotten which gender was banded. An image of the female eagle has yet to be taken which allows for identification of where this bird may have been fledged. I am able to identify in one shot that the band has the letters USA engraved on it. As is the norm, a fair amount of patience is required to observe wildlife. My approach is to find a good observation point and wait, sometimes for many hours. This most often results in good observations, with the mating event of the Bald Eagle a classic example.

The Common Grackle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The time on my camera was 17:24:07 when the male jumped on the female. The progenitors disbanded at 17:24:20. The male clearly missed the mark for his goal. An earlier visit to the nest this season had me confident that an egg had already been laid. I think the mating observation proves otherwise. The birds may have simply been very attentive to the nest. It was rewarding to capture nest building activity and food brought to it as well. The light was good with clear cool skies.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.

The Burrowing Owl is another species with its mating behavior I have been fortunate to document. The owls mate for about half the time of the eagles as noted with video linked to in the sidebar of the blog. The owls have been observed to mate more than once within fifteen minutes after sunset. In most instances mating events have occurred either very shortly before or very shortly after sunset.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in November 2012.